Campus paper finds new homes

By Bill Keran
The Metropolitan

A student legislative newspaper that was booted out of its old office early this semester found two new places to operate.

The Capitol Reporterās editors learned in September they would be losing the larger of the two rooms the Rocky Mountain News was letting them use rent-free at the 400 block of West Colfax.

The News is now using the space to house its own staff.

The Capitol Reporter is moving its computers into the basement of the Rectory building on campus between St. Cajetanās Center and the Golda Meir House.

The paper is also getting a desk in the state Capitolās press room, a privilege it never had before. Movers began moving office equipment Nov. 19 into the Rectory.

Being spread out between the Capitol, the News and the campus office will not be a problem, said Bob Burns, the paperās chief editor.

Burns said computers at the  News office and the Rectory Building will be connected by modem and by fax machine. The newspaper will likely get a laptop so reporters can write and e-mail stories from the state Capitol. The laptop will be at The Capitol Reporterās desk in the press room.

ćWeāre pretty excited that we have space,ä said Deb Hurley-Brobst, chairwoman of the Metro Journalism department, of the Rectory space.

ćItās a nice space in that itās open and weāre going to be able to set up the equipment we need,ä she said.
In September, members of the journalism department were worried about finding a place to set up shop for the newspaper that would be close enough to the state Capitol and big enough to house several computers.

Doug Bell, who teaches editing classes at Metro and will be the assistant editor of The Capitol Reporter this year, said itās better that the newspaper is on campus because his students will have a convenient opportunity to get hands-on training.

ćAs an editing teacher, itās going to be a lot easier for me to involve my editing students in the work of The Capitol Reporter,ä Bell said.